Year Of The Cat
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: "But the drum-beat strains of the night remain in the rhythm of the new-born day. You know sometime you're bound to leave her but for now you're going to stay..." Deciding to take time out for themselves, Amanda and Finn head out to the beach one night... but trying to relax turns things upside down and makes them realise things are changing. (Co-written with werewolf-queen-022)
1. Stay

_**August 25th 2015…**_

_Amanda shivered slightly after her and Finn got out of the ocean, their swimwear soaked and Finn wrapping a towel around her before holding her close to him._

_And a nearby thermometer told them that the current temperature was 67° outside, the Providence area in the midst of a cold front from Canada._

_"We should get back into the hotel." Amanda responded, Finn lightly rubbing her back as Stay by Jackson Browne played on a nearby radio._

_"Stay just a little bit longer?" Finn replied before they slow danced._

_It wasn't long before Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart played and around that time, Ashley and TJ had walked by... and the two stopped, TJ seeing the look of rage in Ashley's eyes as Ashley realised why Amanda hadn't been answering her phone._

_"Ash, don't-" TJ started to respond but Ashley charged over and pulled Amanda away, punching Finn and knocking him down._

_"Ash, what the hell?!" Amanda yelled before she checked on Finn and helped him up. "You okay?!" She asked as her hands cradled his face and his hands rested on her arms as TJ reached them._

"_God you are like a damn balloon animal! I didn't even hit you that hard!" Ashley said._

_"Lady, what did you hit me for?!" Finn responded, his nose bleeding._

_"Ash, you apologise to him right now! We were just blowing off steam!" Amanda replied angrily._

"_No I ain't apologising for shit." Ashley said._

_"This is exactly why I had my phone on sleep mode, you and your damn brothers have been driving me insane so Finn suggested that he and I go relax!" Amanda retorted, Ashley turning incensed and trying to tackle her but TJ held Ashley back as Amanda kept Finn upright._

_"I told you that trying to drag her into this feud would make her fight back!" TJ responded._

"_Oh fuck you asshole!" Ashley said._

_Amanda grabbed the tote bag and towels, her and Finn going to the rented Equinox as Ashley's anger towards them increased._

"_I'll poison you and then dump your body in a lake!" Ashley yelled._

_"He's nothing like Kyle was!" Amanda shouted before she and Finn left, Amanda in the driver's seat and turning to Finn after he had reset his nose. _

_"That's your sister?" Finn asked._

_"She didn't use to be a crazy bitch. Sorry she hit you." Amanda responded._

"_Well if that was her gentle punch, I'd hate to think of how strong she can get." Finn replied._

_"My right collarbone got broken because I was pulling her away from Punk when she tried to strangle him 6 years ago." Amanda explained, Finn handing his leather jacket to her. _

_"I don't care if it gets soaked, I don't want anyone eying you." Finn responded._

_Amanda put it on once they were outside and a pair of shorts before she guided him into the ER…_

**Present time…**

"One minute, we were on the beach dancing and the next, a woman stormed over and punched him."

Bo and Brigette looked up after hearing that, seeing Amanda and Finn and then looked at each other.

"Ash found them." Brigette replied, pulling her long sandy blonde hair into a ponytail before she and Bo stood up and walked towards Finn and Amanda and Amanda held Finn's left hand in her right one.

"I'm sorry she reacted that way." Amanda replied, before they heard Bo laughing.

"Shut up you idiot!" Brigette said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry. I just thought she would have caved his nose into his face." Bo replied.

"Who let it slip that we were going out to unwind?" Amanda asked.

"Definitely wasn't Bo, I've had his phone all night." Brigette replied.

"Wait, was TJ there?" Bo asked, Amanda nodding. "Oops."

"From Ashley's perspective, an innocent dance was misconstrued." Finn responded, holding an ice pack to his face as the doctor left to go get the x-ray machine.

"I'm gonna strangle TJ when I find him!" Amanda replied, Finn lightly stroking her chestnut brown and caramel blonde shoulder length hair.

"What did you do Bo?" Brigette asked.

"We might have got high and before you took my phone I said to him, wouldn't it be fun if we caused some trouble." Bo admitted.

"Bo, what the fuck?!" Amanda responded, her face red with rage and Finn holding her back and pulling her into his lap.

"I didn't think he would take it seriously!" Bo said.

"We can't catch a break lately! If it's not the Hardy siblings childish feud causing hell, it's Seth and Zahra being idiots or TJ being an asshole while high!" Amanda replied as Finn rubbed her back.

"That's a lot of stress…" Brigette responded quietly, Bo nodding in agreement.

"I better call Ash and get her over here." Bo replied.

"You're better off not doing that, she threatened to murder me." Finn responded, Bo and Brigette going wide eyed.

TJ had Ashley thrown over his right shoulder, taking her into the hotel room and throwing her onto her own bed.

"What the hell, TJ?!" Ashley yelled.

"You're not gonna go hunting him down, they were just unwinding!" TJ responded.

"He was being a grabby prick!" Ashley replied.

"He wasn't. And if he was, you can do fuck all about it because Tiny's well over legal age and can sleep with whoever she wants to." TJ responded, Ashley pulling a face. "Oh stop that already." He responded.

"I still don't trust him around my sister." Ashley replied.

"A sister you claimed betrayed you by forcing you to get sober years ago and hardly want anything to do with anymore. Face it, Ash, you only see Mandy as family when it's convenient for you. You and your brothers only have yourselves to blame for her distancing herself from you three because she's right, you three are fighting like children!" TJ responded before he grabbed his things and left their room… and Ashley was left shaken by how he reacted but brushed it off.

"That little hussy was never my sister!" Ashley replied to herself.

After getting cleaned off, Amanda dried off and pulled on a pair of navy hiphugger panties before pulling on a pair of blue and white plaid pajama pants and a white cami before she checked on Finn… and the two hugged, Finn going to get cleaned up himself.

When Finn was in light blue boxers and navy pajama pants, he checked on Amanda… and smiled as she was in a deep sleep, Finn climbing into the bed and putting his right arm around her waist before kissing her right shoulder.

"Goodnight, Darlin'." Finn whispered before closing his eyes and settling into sleep.

He hoped that both her and himself would feel better in the morning.


	2. Trying To Find Stability

_**August 24th 2015…**_

_Seth opened the door to his hotel room and looked around the hallway, seeing no one._

"_All clear." He whispered back into the room and Dakota walked out into the hallway._

"_Remember not a single word to anyone or I'll be back with a knife." Dakota responded._

"_You got it." Seth replied._

_Dakota snuck down the hallway and Seth turned to go back into the room as the early morning was making him want to go back to sleep._

_But he was unaware that 25 year old Amanda saw them… the young woman wandered back into her room and closed the door, Finn noticing that his friend had gone quiet._

"_What did you see?" Finn asked._

"_Dakota sneaking out of Seth's room… now I don't know whether to smack him after all the hell he's given us or just cut him out of my life completely." Amanda explained, Finn standing up and walking over before wrapping his arms around the pajama clad woman, the two hugging._

"_They both were more like drunk and weren't thinking straight." Finn responded as he stroked Amanda's disheveled hair._

"_That's the same bullshit he yelled at me after assuming that you and I hooked up after NXT TakeOver Brooklyn…" Amanda replied as they let go, Finn reaching his hands up to her shoulders. "Why is it that he gives me hell for being around you and he just goes and does whatever he wants?" She asked quietly._

"_I'll tell you one thing you can do, confront Dakota about it." Finn said._

"_Just hoping she doesn't flip out on me." Amanda replied as they let go. _

"_She wouldn't flip at you, she'll flip out at Seth for telling someone. And there is nothing worse than having your ass handed to you by a woman. Happened to me when I pissed Becky off." Finn responded._

_When they were ready for the day, Amanda headed into the lobby and let Finn and Bayley talk… she took a deep breath and approached Dakota._

_But Dakota knew from the look on Amanda's face that Amanda knew._

"_He told you, didn't he?!" Dakota snapped._

"_No… I saw you leaving this morning." Amanda responded, Dakota taking a minute and getting Amanda to sit down._

"_We were drunk and being stupid." Dakota muttered. "I don't remember any of it, it's all black." _

"_Been there… I was just 16 at the time." Amanda admitted, Dakota's eyes widening._

"_Rough time?" Dakota asked._

"_I was new to the business… and drunkenly asked what it was like, Randy didn't exactly take it gently with me at first but after, we took it easier… most times." Amanda explained._

"_At least you remember your first time, I don't. Yet another drunk one night stand." Dakota said, rubbing her head._

"_We go through wild times in our lives." Amanda responded, Dakota laughing slightly._

"_I don't think I've gotten out of those times yet." Dakota said._

_At the Barclays Center, Amanda was looking through the script when she came across one of Seth's lines… and glanced up to see John, who could tell that he had inadvertently startled his little sister._

"_Didn't mean to startle you." John said._

"_It's alright. Just one of those days." Amanda responded as they hugged for a few seconds… and he saw that her nose was bruised from what he could guess was a mistimed shove into the turnbuckle at Saturday's taping of NXT. _

"_What happened?" John asked._

"_Eva got pissed off during our match and shoved me… I'm alright, John." Amanda responded._

"_I'm referring to what happened today. What happened that turned it into one of those days?" John said._

"_Seth and Dakota fucked like bunnies." Amanda whispered, John's eyes widening. _

"_So Seth and Dakota are now together?" John responded quietly._

"_It was just a one off… I want to scream and yell at him about how he's treated me and Finn when we're just friends. I don't know how to tell Zahra but she needs to break it off with him." Amanda replied, John once again pulling her into a hug._

_And he didn't blame her for feeling frustrated…_

**Present time**_**, August 26th 2015…**_

Amanda slowly opened her eyes, her mind and body telling her to go back to sleep.

And as she was curled up against Finn and he was holding her, she found the idea really tempting.

Amanda closed her eyes, settling back into sleep… but then both were woken up by Seth hitting his hands against the door.

"If you're naked in bed with him, I'll kill him!" Seth yelled.

Finn grabbed one of his shoes, throwing it at the door and they heard Seth jump back.

"Go pester someone else, you prick!" Finn replied angrily.

Seth grumbled to himself as he left, Finn pulling Amanda closer to him.

"I think we should get our things and go on back to Orlando to get away from these lunatics." Amanda responded.

"Good idea." Finn replied before they stood up, got ready for the day and packed up their things before leaving.

Back in Orlando, Amanda was in a sleeveless rust colored sundress… the dress that Ashley had said made Amanda look slutty but Amanda didn't care what Ashley said anymore.

Another reason Amanda chose the dress was because it was 106° outside, summer still trapping the sunshine state in a stranglehold… and Amanda felt Finn's arms around her waist, Amanda leaning against him as _Always On My Mind _by Willie Nelson played on the nearby radio.

"Still thinking back on what happened?" Finn asked.

"I blocked them on social media. They're never gonna get their heads out of the sand they buried them in." Amanda responded, holding up her phone to show Finn… and he lightly kissed the left side of her head.

"Because they're overgrown children who only care about this childish rivalry instead of how it affects the ones they claim are family, Darlin'. They'll only have themselves to blame when they each end up all alone." Finn replied as Amanda turned to him and wrapped her arms around him.

The two slow danced as _Have I Told You Lately _by Rod Stewart played on the radio, Finn's right hand resting on Amanda's lower back and left hand on her upper back as Amanda's hands resting on his shoulders.

"It's all gonna be okay, Amanda. You're away from all the stress of it." Finn responded quietly, getting her to rest her head on his right shoulder. "I'm right here… and I'm never gonna leave your side." He whispered.

Amanda nodded as Finn lightly rubbed her back, _Just Remember I Love You _by Firefall playing next as she lifted her head up and they looked at each other… and Finn lightly cradled her face in his hands.

The loud knock at the door startled them, Amanda looking to it and back to Finn as they let go and he lightly held her left hand in his right hand… and they walked to the door, Amanda unlocking it.

Finn pulled her back and shielded her after Dakota busted the door open in a rage, the door having hit Amanda's face.

"You told Zahra, I know you did! How about I tell your old friend Ashley what's really going on with you and Balor?!" Dakota responded.

Amanda approached Dakota despite a split lip and bleeding nose… before she punched Dakota and tossed her out of the house.

"If you just want to jump to a conclusion and hit me, don't come around here no more!" Amanda retorted before slamming and locking the door… and Dakota pulled herself up, limping to her Equinox and driving off after getting into it.

Finn wrapped his arms around Amanda's back, pressing a washcloth to her nose before resetting it and taking her to the ER after helping her change clothes and putting the dress in the washer for later.

And he knew that like him, she was fed up with people constantly attacking them.


End file.
